In this workshop, participants will engage in inquiry activities designed to emphasize critical thinking and scientific reasoning within the context of introductory astronomy. Content may include activities applicable to all science (e.g. logical fallacies, terminology, etc.) and activities specific to astronomy (e.g. shadows, lunar illumination, etc.) These activities are part of the Learning Critical Thinking Through Astronomy Project and its associated textbook (in development). Participants should bring notebook computers with wifi capability.

W02:

Developing a High-Altitude Balloon Program: Sending a Hands-On STEM Project to the Edge of Space

You can participate in a Near-Space mission using a high-altitude balloon taking your experiments to 20 miles above the Earth where you can see the blackness of space in the middle of the day. High-altitude ballooning can be geared toward all levels of students (K-12 and college) in many different science and math courses through a fun and exciting hands-on activity they will remember for a lifetime. At this workshop, we will present information on how you can start your own ballooning program and you will have the same challenges and excitement that the students experience. Our attendees will participate in developing scientific experiments, planning a flight, conducting a launch, tracking the payloads, collecting data in real-time, and recovering the equipment.

Participants will learn how to modify introductory physics courses to help students acquire a good conceptual foundation, apply this knowledge effectively in problem solving, and develop the science process abilities needed for real life work. We provide tested curriculum materials including: (a) The Physics Active Learning Guide with 30 or more activities per chapter for use with any textbook in lectures, recitations, and homework; (b) a website with over 200 videotaped experiments and associated questions for use in lectures, recitations, laboratories, and homework; and (c) a set of labs with inexpensive equipment that can be used to construct, test, and apply concepts to solve practical problems. During the workshop we will illustrate how to use the materials not only in college and high school physics courses but also in courses for future physics teachers to have an explicit emphasis on using the processes of science and various cognitive strategies.

What is understanding? What is the relationship between knowledge and understanding? What does "teaching for understanding" look like? Why is deeper understanding important in the current educational climate which emphasizes standardized assessments? These and other important questions will be explored as participants design, develop and refine a cohesive unit plan based on the principles found in Understanding by Design (UbD). In the UbD classroom, there are high expectations and incentives for all students while exploration of big ideas and essential questions is differentiated, so students who are able delve more deeply into the subject matter than others. This workshop is appropriate for instructors from pre-high school through college levels. Participants will receive a copy of UbD, 2nd Ed. Note: participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptops to the workshop, but a limited number of computers may be available? Contact the organizer (jkolsen@u.arizona.edu) if you will need one.

Topics in this workshop cover the standard first semester of physics instruction from Mechanics to Thermal. It is taught by an experienced team of lecture demonstrators. The format allows for and encourages interplay between instructors and participants. It is recommended that both Lecture Demonstrations 1 and 2 be taken as this will cover the complete year of demonstrations needed for a typical course. The demonstrations used and exhibited will be based on, but not limited to, the PIRA top 200 list of demonstrations. See http://www.pira-online.org for more info on this list. Please note that this workshop is intended to expose as many demonstrations and ideas as possible to the participants. Since we will be doing approximately 100 demos during this workshop, time restraints DO NOT allow for extensive or in depth discussions of each demonstration. We will make every effort to answer all questions and concerns either during or after the workshop.

Whether motivated by energy security or environmental stability, physicists at all levels must play a role in the scientific literacy shaping the past as we have known it and the future of the world as we should know it. This workshop will open the eyes of practitioners to the vast array of teaching and learning possibilities for classroom application of Physics of Energy as well as illustrate how this curriculum and research has been implemented in the US and Uganda. During the workshop ten laboratories will be executed in groups as well as a final energy competition. All participants will leave with a CD of resources. Together the workshop will weave a coherent common thread of Physics of Energy from mechanical to electrical energy - four devices, thermal to electrical - three devices, solar to electrical - 1 device, and chemical to electrical energy - 2 devices.

This workshop will introduce participants to three types of computer coaches that can be used to help students with problem solving in introductory physics. The workshop will include the motivation and use of the computer coaches and the process used to build and test them. Please bring your laptop to access the computer coaches. This work is
supported by the National Science Foundation.

We invite high school and college teachers as well as research professionals to experience with us a new question sequence clicker methodology that is proven to help students enjoy lectures and experience significant learning gains. Discussion leaders have created, validated, and evaluated for learning gains 167 conceptual clicker sequences containing 500 individual questions. The workshop will start with brief discussions of the new methodology, how sequences were created and validated, results of student surveys and evaluations of learning gains. Participants will have hands-on use of clickers while answering questions and observing presentation techniques. With workshop leaders as a resource, teams of participants will then create and present their own two-question sequences. At the workshop's conclusion, participants will receive CDs containing all 167 sequences, relevant published papers, and workshop slides.

LaserFest 2010 included many physics outreach programs around the world with programming styled 'LaserFest On The Road'. We have invited leaders from many of these programs to share activity ideas both from LaserFest and from related laser-based physics demonstration shows and exhibits. The "focus" is on items you can use in both outreach and the classroom. We'll look (with our one remaining good eye!) at a top 20 laser demo list. We share some of our favorite exhibits and construction techniques. We’ll build a few take-home pieces. Safety discussions about how to use lasers with (not on!) students and the public will of course be included. And don't forget, we'll network, share, and develop plenty of new ideas for laserific road show gear. For more information, check for updates. [LaserFest programming originally supported by a consortium led by APS and the Optical Society.]

This workshop will introduce participants to a modeling-based approach to problem solving, a pedagogy that enables students to attain significant expert-like improvement of their problem solving. Students develop more expert-like attitudes towards science, particularly in problem-solving self confidence, and the skills they learn transfer to a subsequent E&M course. The workshop goal is to enable participants to introduce some or all of this pedagogy into their courses with the help of our Integrated Learning Environment for Mechanics (ILEM). Hosted in LON-CAPA, an open source online learning environment, ILEM incorporates our modeling pedagogy into a standard introductory mechanics syllabus and combines multi-level research-based homework sets with a WIKI-text. Workshop participants will sample the various teaching materials for in-class use and will participate in some innovative activities (participants are encouraged to bring their laptops for a hands-on introduction to ILEM). We seek users/collaborators for our materials, which can be freely modified.

Recent interchanges between science and religion have sparked serious interest and no little heat. Science educators have an investment in these discussions, not just because they impact public school curricular policy - curious students and colleagues often raise questions whose answers require examining subtle distinctions. This workshop seeks to map out a particular approach to the discourse, an explorative juxtaposition of fundamental (and sometimes deeply implicit) characteristics of the two principal disciplines (science and theology). The intent is not to exhaustively survey the current literature, nor to demolish or advocate particular positions. The aim, rather, is to provide an opportunity for participants and presenters to interact in a number of guided discussions and activities on this topic. These directed engagements will help construct a framework that the presenters feel will permit participants to address the issues more productively, and to open avenues to better help students develop critical thinking skills.